Business Highlights

LONDON - Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond resigned Tuesday, the biggest scalp claimed in a financial markets scandal that has ripped through the bank's senior management and sown the seeds for a new investigation into Britain's banking sector.

Jerry del Missier, appointed only last month as chief operating officer, resigned hours after Diamond left and a day after the chairman announced he would step down.

The bank released documents saying del Missier was responsible for ordering traders in 2008 to report dishonestly low borrowing rates because he had mistakenly concluded that the Bank of England had told Barclays to do so.

Barclays management has come under fire since the bank was fined $453 million last week by U.S. and British regulators for submitting false reports on interbank borrowing rates between 2005 and 2009.

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Carmakers report strong June sales, easing worries

DETROIT - From mini cars to monster pickups, sales of new cars and trucks surged in June.

Automakers reported big gains over June of last year. Chrysler posted its best June in five years. Sales soared at Volkswagen, which is on track for its best year in the U.S. since 1973.

The results allayed fears that growth would stall after a strong start to 2012. Earlier this spring, sales were on track to reach 14.5 million this year. The pace dropped in May as fears about the health of the global economy increased.

But buyers didn't go away. Falling gas prices, cheaper loans and new models like the Ford Escape and Dodge Dart drew them out. A revived housing market lifted sales of pickups. And there was still plenty of demand from people who bought cars in the middle of the last decade and needed to replace them.

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FDA approves first rapid, take home HIV test

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first over-the-counter HIV test, allowing Americans to test themselves for the virus that causes AIDS in the privacy of their homes.

The OraQuick test detects the presence of HIV in saliva collected using a mouth swab. The test is designed to return a result within 20 to 40 minutes.

Government officials estimate one-fifth, or about 240,000 people, of the 1.2 million HIV carriers in the U.S. are not aware they are infected. Testing is one of the chief means of slowing new infections, which have held steady at about 50,000 per year for two decades.

FDA officials said the test is aimed at people who might not otherwise get tested.

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2 paths forward for uninsured, 1 clouded by ruling

WASHINGTON - Really? The Supreme Court's big health care decision means 30 million or more uninsured Americans are soon going to have coverage? It's far from that simple.

The ruling does point a way forward for millions who can't get affordable coverage because they've been sick, they're self-employed or they are otherwise shut out of the insurance plans that most Americans get in the workplace. But the path is clouded for millions more: The people on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder who are supposed to be reached by a major expansion of Medicaid.

Thanks to last week's ruling on President Barack Obama's overhaul, states can opt out of the expansion without fear that Washington will shut down all their federal Medicaid financing. And if some states do opt out, a lot of their residents are going to have to find another way to get coverage, or continue to go without.

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ECB to trim interest rates, but no more

FRANKFURT, Germany - Europe's sinking economy and wobbly banks could get modest help Thursday from an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank.

Economists think the ECB will cut its benchmark refinancing rate by at least a quarter point to 0.75 percent, a record low. On Tuesday, the rising expectation of a rate cut helped lift stock markets in Europe, which have been rallying since European leaders last week announced new measures to fight the continent's debt crisis.

The ECB is likely to hold off from more aggressive measures, such as new cheap loans to banks. Its president, Mario Draghi, has said there is only so much the central bank can do and that it was up to Europe's politicians to restore confidence in the 17-country eurozone.

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US factory orders increased 0.7 percent in May

WASHINGTON - Companies placed more orders with U.S. factories in May compared with April, demanding more computers, machinery and other equipment that signal investment plans.

The increase is a welcome sign for the economy after two months of declining factory orders.

Still, factory orders are down from the start of the year. And more recent data show manufacturing activity shrank in June for the first time in three years, adding to worries that weaker global growth is weighing on the U.S. economy.

Factory orders increased to $469 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Core capital goods, which include machinery and computers, rose 2.1 percent, showing companies are still making investment plans.

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Duke, Progress complete merger; Progress CEO out

RALEIGH, N.C. - Duke Energy Corp. and Progress Energy Inc. said Tuesday they had completed their merger now valued at about $32 billion to form the nation's largest electric company. But the normally routine event came with a twist.

Bill Johnson, who was tapped to lead the combined company as president and chief executive, decided to leave by "mutual agreement," the companies said.

Duke CEO Jim Rogers, who was expected to be executive chairman, became CEO of the new company.

Whether it was Johnson or the company's board that had a last-minute change of heart is unclear.

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Boeing expects market for 34,000 new planes

Boeing is raising its 20-year prediction for worldwide airplane sales to 34,000 jets, enough to double the size of the world's fleet, as more people travel in China, India, and other emerging markets.

The airplane maker and defense contractor predicted on Tuesday that $4.5 trillion worth of planes will be sold. It will compete with Airbus and other competitors including Bombardier, Embraer, and China's state-owned COMAC for those sales.

The projection is 500 planes higher and a half-trillion dollars more than the previous year's estimate. Boeing expects airlines to shift toward slightly larger planes with higher price tags, accounting for most of the additional spending.

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Chuck E. Cheese transforming into a rock star

NEW YORK - Chuck E. Cheese has been given the pink slip.

The company that operates the chain of children's pizza restaurants is retiring the giant rodent's outdated image - and the man who voiced its character for nearly two decades. CEC Entertainment Inc. says it plans to launch a national ad campaign Thursday with a revamped image of Chuck E. Cheese as a hip, electric-guitar-playing rock star.

It's just the latest makeover for the 35-year-old mascot, which started life as a New Jersey rat who sometimes carried a cigar.

CEC Entertainment, based in Irving, Texas, is struggling to revive sales at its more than 500 pizza restaurants, which offer games, prizes and a musical variety show.

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Netflix's monthly video streaming tops a billion hours

SAN FRANCISCO - Netflix says its subscribers watched more than a billion hours of online video last month as more high-speed Internet connections and high-powered mobile devices change people's viewing patterns.

The milestone announced Tuesday is the latest sign that the Internet video service may be starting to reduce the amount of time its 26.5 million streaming subscribers spend watching advertising-supported entertainment bundled in more expensive cable-television packages. Netflix Inc. sells its service for $8 per month.

The rising usage of Netflix also indicates that the company's recent efforts to expand its Internet video library are paying off.